Word: guernsey
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This Sunday a number of Episcopal churches in America will be praying under a distinctly foreign authority. God is still in charge, but so will the Church of Uganda. The east African nation's Anglican Church consecrated Virginian John Guernsey as bishop earlier this month to lead 33 American congregations that have defected from the U.S. Episcopal Church, mainly because of the American organization's stand of gay ordination - a stance reaffirmed at a conference this week in New Orleans...
...earlier in September, in a five-hour-long, open-air service in southwestern Uganda that blended Anglican hymns with traditional African music, bishops from around the world joined together to anoint the latest conservative U.S. cleric seeking shelter in an African church. Says Guernsey: "Uganda has become a haven for ecclesiastical refugees...
Wearing a slightly ill-suited printed Ugandan shirt, Bishop Guernsey earnestly called Uganda his "spiritual home." Guernsey is the most recent in a series of American bishops pledging allegiance to African churches that have strong anti-homosexuality stances. In September alone, Americans William Atwood and William Murdoch were also consecrated by an African church, the Anglican Church of Kenya. Anglicans worldwide have been divided since the U.S. Episcopal Church, the Anglican Church's American branch, consecrated Gene Robinson as Anglicanism's first openly gay bishop four years...
...decision is inadequate - clearly, the Episcopal Church has torn apart the Anglican Communion and wants to walk away from the rest of the church," Guernsey says. "The Episcopal Church embarked on its course before there were African bishops and will continue to do so." He adds that American churches have become too dry and lost their vigor. In contrast, Guernsey says that Western visitors are often overwhelmed by the heightened religiosity found in Ugandan churches...
...mention, he proudly adds, the fact that Africa is at the forefront in the fight against homosexuality. "We're looking to the Church of Uganda for spiritual protection," Guernsey states when asked why American congregations are seeking leadership thousands of miles away. Guernsey says that he was part of the U.S. Episcopal Church for 29 years before he fled to Uganda in 2006. Much of the Anglican Church in Africa is opposed to the ordaining of gay priests and to same-sex unions. Many African countries have laws banning homosexuality altogether...